Glasgow Warriors 33 - 8 Aironi Rugby
Magners League match played at Firhill on Friday November 5th 2010
Peter Murchie grabbed a bonus point win for Glasgow Captain Al Kellock celebrated his return to action by leading the Glasgow young guns to a comfortable win over an Aironi side who have still to register a Magners League win.

Second-row forward Kellock was making his first appearance of the season, after undergoing knee surgery in the summer, and played his part in a performance in which the pressure and territory Glasgow enjoyed should have seen them pick up more than four tries.

The Italian defence proved hard to unpick for long spells, but Glasgow started with a bang, camping on the Aironi line before switching the ball wide for Federico Aramburu to shrug off a couple of tackles and grab the opening try.

Duncan Weir converted, and although Aironi raced back to the Glasgow red zone, Weir made a 60-metre clearance to put them back on the front foot.

The home scrum made a steal and number eight Ryan Wilson set up the penalty for Weir to kick from 40 metres, but then Aironi's Jaco Erasmus and Andrea Benatti pinched a couple of turnovers and give-away ball by Glasgow gave Ludovic Mercier the chance to get the visitors on the board with a simple penalty.

Scrum-half Henry Pyrgos proved a thorn in Aironi's side with a couple of kicks which tested the back three, and then his pass put Colin Shaw away on a 50-metre run which saw him halted ony inches short.

Weir booted his second penalty, and then a couple of minutes later quick thinking by Ryan Wilson with a tap penalty put Aramburu over for his second try. Weir converted and Glasgow went in 20-3 ahead at the interval.

Weir started the second half where he had finished off in the first, landing a penalty three minutes in.

But it took 20 more minutes before Glasgow could wear down the Italian defence and it took a huge effort by the home pack to put DTH van der Merwe over in the corner.

Glasgow took their foot off the pedal and Aironi hooker Luigi Ferraro scored a well-deserved consolation try with 11 minutes remaining.

But that fired Glasgow up again and from the final play of the game Peter Murchie went over in the corner to secure a bonus point.

Glasgow coach Sean Lineen said: "They made it very difficult for us but it was a huge relief to get five

This article was posted on 6-Nov-2010, 08:36 by Hugh Barrow.